THE youngest and oldest in Wales are also the poorest in the UK, according to new research published today.

Wales has the highest number of children living in poverty and most pensioners are dependent on State pensions and other benefits as their main source of income.

Entitled From the Cradle to the Grave, a report by the Anti-Poverty Network Cymru (APNC) concludes from research by Oxfam Cymru that Wales really is not only the sick man of Britain, but also the pauper.

Coinciding with the UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty, APNC is today calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to put the eradication of poverty at the top of its agenda.

Francis Ballin, the network's volunteer co-ordinator, said, "The scale of deprivation experienced here in Wales is surely unacceptable for an economy as strong as the UK's."

The rate of child poverty in Wales was estimated at 33%, compared to 30% across the UK, where poverty is defined as "below 60% of median income after housing costs".

A shocking 81.7% of children in the Tredegar Park area of Newport were found to be living in poverty, even more than the 80% recorded in Swansea's Townhill.

At 3.5%, Wales also has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe and the youth unemployment rate is 28.6%, which means the effects of poverty are already being passed on to the next generation.

Wales also has a higher proportion of pensioners than the rest of the UK and roughly half of them have an annual income of less than #10,000.

The full basic State pension is #4,027 a year for a single person and the standard Guarantee Credit is #5,309 for a single person. The average wage in Wales in 2000 was #18,400.

In the Glanymor electoral division of Carmarthenshire, more than 80% of people over the age of 75 were living on income-related benefits.

Across the UK, nearly one in four pensioners is living in poverty with an income below 60% of the average household income.